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First Ethernet Switch In Space

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the iss-lan-party-arrives dept.

Rebecca will you marry me? writes "The ESA's Columbus laboratory module was added to the International Space Station in February, but Hewlett-Packard has only now chosen to reveal that the LAN onboard Columbus uses a ProCurve 2524 switch." HP admits it was the "most unusual and demanding" project ProCurve has done yet.

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  1. Cool test methodology by dreamchaser · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Despite the misleading title (should probably say first OFF THE SHELF switch in orbit), it's pretty cool how they tested these. From TFA:

    Switches from Cisco, D-Link, Avaya, 3Com, NetGear and Hewlett Packard were exposed to extreme levels of radiation in a particle accelerator in Villigen, Switzerland under conditions similar to space.


    Makes one think more about all the radiation crewmembers get exposed to as well, even within the protective embrace of the Earth's magnetic field. That's one of the big hurdles to travel to Mars of course; long term exposure to varying levels of radiation (mostly from the Sun).

    I just think it's geeky-cool that they put them in a particle accellerator for testing though.